Source: ComingSoon.net, IMDB
There seemed to be some confusion on the part of the interwebz about whether or not red-haired EMMA STONE would play red-haired MARY JANE WATSON or blond-haired GWEN STACY.

Regardless of the hair, Stone has been slected to portray the role of GWEN STACY. And there seems to be a lot of importance attached to this casting so THRALL WORLD is led to believe that MJ might not figure as prominent in the SPIDER-MAN initial reboot movie as producers rewind and start anew the telling of the popular comic book hero.

EMMA STONE [ZOMBIELAND] has been cast as the female lead in the upcoming Spider-Man film film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures.

Stone has been tapped for the role of GWEN STACY opposite ANDREW GARFIELD [THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS] as Peter Parker.

The film, to be directed by Marc Webb [(500) DAYS OF SUMMER] from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will begin production in December and will be released in theaters nationwide in 3D on July 3, 2012.

Marc Webb, the director of the Golden Globe-nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer, will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

That's A Wrap: SAM RAIMI, TOBEY MAGUIRE, and KIRSTEN DUNST have officially spun their last web together as SONY opts to reboot the SPIDER-MAN franchise and start from scratch with a new director and cast.

The new chapter in the “Spider-Man” franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.

Bold move on the part of Sony. THRALL WORLD was passing up on reports that production was delayed on ‘Spider-Man 4’ over the past few weeks. But now comes word that the entire cast and crew is kaput and that the entire franchise is starting from scratch!

We “got” that the script was kind of “eh” and that must have been a solid “issue” in moving forward with the 4th Spider-Man movie. No problem there. Venom was a glaring mistake in Spider-Man 3 and Sony probably wanted to avoid being trapped to the history of that sub-par Spider-Man chapter – especially as they’re pursuing a Venom movie and possible franchise there as well.

But when you keep going to the well at some point the well runs dry. When a comic book runs astray it’s easy to axe the creative team and start fresh. But such is not the case with comic book movies. It will be long time before we see another Superman, Fantastic 4 and even X-Men is being rebooted to a younger generation of familiar mutants after the turd that was ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.

Bottom line in the new age of the comic book movie of the week? Make sure the movie you greenlight doesn’t suck because it appears to be pretty difficult to get over.

Sam Raimi commented:

“Working on the ‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job.”

Source: ComingSoon.net, BadTaste.it
Doesn’t mean it’s a done deal though just yet. The big question is if the Vulture from the classic Spider-Man comic book stories from the old-school 60’s run is compelling enough as a villian to translate well today. Here’s the latest:

Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called “Quelli Che il Calcio” and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:

“When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn’t deny his involvement, but confermed that he’s waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible”.

Read more HERE and if you can read in Italian click HERE for the original interview.

THE VULTURE (from waaay back in SPIDER-MAN #2) is starting to sound like a very strong possibility as a key villian in 'SPIDER-MAN 4'

IMAX Corporation and Columbia Pictures today announced that the highly-anticipated action-adventure Spider-Man 4, will be released to IMAX(R) theatres simultaneously with the film’s worldwide release on May 5, 2011. The fourth installment of the successful “Spider-Man” franchise, based on the Marvel Comicbook character, will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience.